How To Stick To Your Budget

Written by Terry J. Rigg Sr.


I've had a lot of people tell me that setting up their budget was simple but when it came to living by it payday after payday they admitted losing interest in a very short time.

Let's face it. The day to day drudgery of trying to figure out how to best spend your money isn'trepparttar most interesting aspect of our lives.

Let me see if I can makerepparttar 111420 budget process a little more appealing to you. I don't have any magic or secret process to tell you about but I do have a method that will show you why a budget doesn't have to be boring.

I can do this with one word. GOALS

When we think of goals most of us look far intorepparttar 111421 future to our retirement. That'srepparttar 111422 problem. It's hard to imagine when your 20 what you will need when you are 65.

Accomplishing your goals doesn't have to take a lifetime. Even when they do you can set milestones alongrepparttar 111423 way to break it up and get a sense of accomplishment much earlier.

If you have problems staying on a budget try setting some short term goals. We can start with an easy one. Try to save $100 without missing it.

Unless you have no income at all this is easy. Don't spend any coins for any reason. If you buy something for 25 cents break a dollar. Then all you have to do is putrepparttar 111424 change out of your pocket or purse in a jar every day.

This sounds simple enough and you've probably heard about saving change before. If you are a skeptic like I was you probably think that this isn't going to lead to any real savings at all.

Let's get back to that $100 I was talking about. How long do you think it would take you to save enough change to equal $100. 6 months? 1 year?

The Spirit of Father's Day

Written by Lawrence Vijay Girard


The Spirit of Father’s Day

Some time ago I received a gift from both of my children. It was spontaneous and had nothing to do with Father’s day. Yet, atrepparttar same time it had everything to do with Father’s day. My son, Kai, - he was 17 atrepparttar 111419 time - was attending a private boarding high school in Colorado. While we were talking onrepparttar 111420 phone he shared some wonderful news with me. Kai said, ”You know Dad, I am really happy with my life. I can’t think of a thing that I would change aboutrepparttar 111421 way that I grew up, orrepparttar 111422 way that my life is now.” My daughter Sabari, - also 17 atrepparttar 111423 time ...yes, twins! - , who was living with her mother in Northern California, said almostrepparttar 111424 same thing to me just a few days later. Of course, I was delighted to hear this from both of them. What parent wouldn’t revel inrepparttar 111425 good spirits of their children. And I told them both how happy I was, not only that they were happy, but that they expressed it to me. The heartfelt communication that we shared is as dear to me asrepparttar 111426 news itself. And that, I reflected, wasrepparttar 111427 gift that they were giving me. The gift of heartfelt, open, communication. Certainly I hope for good news when I hear from them. But mostly I love that they will share their real feelings with me. Happy or sad, I love to be touched by their innermost thoughts and feelings. That is how I can really share in their lives. The spontaneous sharing of my children reminded me of our relationship with Spirit. Our open, honest, heartfelt innermost thoughts and feelings flowing towards our Creator, good news or bad, is atrepparttar 111428 foundation of our ability to have a real conscious relationship with God. Many people think that God is present only at a distance. Some think that if God is any way knowable, that knowledge can only come after death. Butrepparttar 111429 saints of all religions have proclaimed that God is knowable here and now if we will just takerepparttar 111430 time to communicate with Him/Her. Unfortunately many religious traditions have lost touch with this most essential truth. It isn’t satisfying torepparttar 111431 soul to just read or talk about our connection with Spirit. We yearn to actually experiencerepparttar 111432 reality of our relationship with God. As an earthly father and a child of my Infinite Father I offer this Father’s Day gift to you. A simple reminder that God is real and present in your life. Consciously enter into your relationship with Spirit by inwardly having a conversation with Him/Her duringrepparttar 111433 day. Let God be your inner companion and friend. Let this communication be natural and heartfelt. You don’t have to make deep pronouncements to God - unless you really want to. Experiment withrepparttar 111434 type of exchange that feels most comfortable to you. The only really essential part of this is that it must be sincere. Even sincere doubt is better than insincere praise.

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